Is the corn starch fibre (PLA), used in some garments, derived from non-genetically modified organism (GMO) sources?
Nau: We are taking part in a program to purchase a volume of GMO-free corn equal to the amount used to produce our fabrics. Due to the way PLA is manufactured, we cannot know if this GMO-free corn ends up in our product, [see earlier TH discussion] but we do know that the equivalent amount of GMO-free raw material needed to produce our garments goes into the system. This ensures that we offset the use of any genetically engineered corn that was sent to the dextrose processing plant with GMO-free corn equal to our utilization. Compared to the use of petroleum-based polymers we see the use of renewable resources, such as corn and other starches to make PLA, as a step in the right direction. While biopolymers like PLA were specifically designed to decrease the environmental problems caused by the use of petroleum-based polymers, we recognize that there are a range of environmental impacts associated with growing corn and other crops. These impacts include land clearing, land degradation a
